Texture Analysis via EBSD

In the 1970’s Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) was a technique use by just a few researchers. At that time, a single EBSD pattern was recorded using film in the SEM and then analyzed with a protractor and a calculator. However, as computers began to be used for image analysis, Professor David Dingley at the University of Bristol built a computer system allowing a user to click on a few key features in the patterns to aid an operator in analyzing the patterns. When David presented his work to the texture community at the 8th International Conference of Textures of Materials (ICOTOM) in Santa Fe in 1987 the community recognized the potential of this “new” EBSD technique to quantitatively characterize the crystallographic texture of polycrystalline materials. Professor Brent Adams at Brigham Young University further recognized that the technique could allow the texture to be linked to the microstructure and his research group began working to automate the technique. The first fully automated maps we are familiar with today were achieved over the December 1991 semester break. A modern EBSD system is now assumed to be an automated tool capable of rapidly measuring individual crystallographic orientations for characterizing the microstructure of crystalline materials. Dr. Stuart Wright, a key member of the original team responsible for automating EBSD, will revisit the original motivation beyond those development efforts 30 years ago now; namely in characterizing crystallographic texture. The outline for the webinar will be as follows: Introduction to Crystallographic Texture, Orientation Distribution Function, Fiber Textures, Texture Components, Statistical Reliability, and Case Study.